


Write about your parents.

by JohnHHolliday (Methleigh)



Category: 19th Century US RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-21
Updated: 2012-05-21
Packaged: 2017-11-05 17:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/409291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methleigh/pseuds/JohnHHolliday





	Write about your parents.

My parents. I have never thought about them together. Not as _parents_ , but as my mama and The Major.

There was my mama, who was good and gentle and did her best for me and for everyone. She, like Mattie always saw the best in everything. She believed in diligence and taught me to work hard, to practice, to strive, even in slow ways that would only eventually see results. She taught me to think of the future - in this and as the ultimate measure. To make a good and right world for the glory and pleasure of God. She was faithful to Him, and her faith in me let me try to live up to her ideals. She was gentle and good, and because she was so, I learned to see that in all women. I learned to give them all respect, not for their delicacy, but for their forbearance, for their goodness and kindness, and for the work they did, unthanked, unrecognised, so dull it was devoid of any flash of glory - on and on and on until they passed away. My mama was beautiful, with soft hands and soft hair. She looked like me, essentially, but dark and with more symmetry. She was brave and worked so hard and was kind and helpful always, even beyond her strength, all of her days. And she loved me. She loved me.

My papa was a military man. He admittedly worked hard as well to bring honour to the community. After the war, when the cotton harvest failed for boll weevils, he brought pecans to Georgia, for example. He took in many children. He did his best to protect our land and that of our neighbours and all of our area from the carpetbaggers after the war. He was Head of the Freedmen's Bureau in Valdosta. He was mayor and judge. He helped found the Valdosta Academy, where I was fortunate enough to study. That is all I have to say of him. He betrayed my mama, myself, my family and the Confederacy, as far as I am concerned. He did not love me and I have not yet forgiven him.


End file.
